The Minister of State of Youth Affairs and Sports and MP for Arunachal West Kiren Rijiju has confirmed that the five youths from the state who had gone missing on September have been located by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
“China's PLA has responded to the hotline message sent by Indian Army. They have confirmed that the missing youths from Arunachal Pradesh have been found by their side. Further modalities to handover the persons to our authority is being worked out,” Rijiju tweeted.
The youths’ disappearance had sparked fears that they had been abducted by the PLA amid unprecedented tensions between India and China along the border areas. India had reached out to China for information on the missing men, who were believed to have been ‘abducted’ from the Sera-7 area below the McMahon Line in Indian territory in the Upper Subansiri region, according to Arunachal East MP Tapir Gao.
The five reportedly left their homes on August 20, with family members telling the Army that they had gone out for an outing, possibly to hunt, and may have accidentally strayed across the LAC.
In response, the Indian Army dispatched a hotline message to the counterpart PLA establishment at the Arunachal Pradesh border point.
The news comes amid reports of gunfire between either side (China claims it was India that fired, India claims the opposite)—the first shots fired along the border in decades.
China does not recognise Arunachal Pradesh as a part of India, claiming it as part of its South Tibet regino. The Chinese Foreign Ministry had earlier said it had no information on the youth, while noting that it did not recognise Arunachal Pradesh.